Component manufacturing processes that basically comprise a tape lay-up stage and a hot forming and curing stage are well known in the aeronautical industry.
In the tape lay-up stage, layers of a composite material such as prepreg, which is a mixture of fibre reinforcement and storable polymeric matrix, are placed in a mould/jig of suitable shape.
This material can be in various forms and in particular in the form of layer. For thermosetting matrices the resin is generally cured partially or is brought by another process to a controlled viscosity, called the B-stage.
The layers of composite material are not placed randomly, but are arranged in each zone in a number and with an orientation of their fibre reinforcement, typically of carbon fibre, that depend on the nature and the magnitude of the stresses that are to be withstood by the component in each zone.
Thus, each zone has a particular structure of the arrangement or stacking of the layers. The difference in thickness between the different zones generates drops in the layers, which requires having a template of layers for each component that clearly establishes how they must be arranged on the mould/jig during the stacking process. The final result is a flat laminate with zones of different thickness.
In the second stage, firstly a hot forming process is carried out, which consists basically of positioning the flat laminate resulting from the first stage on a jig or mandrel with a suitable geometry and applying heat and vacuum according to a defined cycle, so that said laminate adapts to the shape of the jig. Secondly, a final curing process is carried out in an autoclave with temperature and vacuum, until the component reaches its finished state, in the absence of a final processing operation.
Using processes of this type, in the aeronautical industry various C-shaped components of composite material have been fabricated, such as spars and ribs of torsion box-beams of horizontal stabilizers of aeroplanes using automatic tape lay-up machines in the tape lay-up stage.
In these processes, the tape lay-up stage is carried out either for a single component or for several identical components. In the first case, generally the capacity of the tape lay-up jig is not fully utilized, and in the second case, if more components are made than are required for one aeroplane, a very expensive stock of components is generated, owing to the costs of the material and the volume of the components.
The present invention aims to avoid these drawbacks.